We'd been talking for a while about getting another cat. I'm cat-mad so no amount of cats is ever too many for me, but as a cat-lover, I do understand and respect that cats are naturally quite solitary animals and they don't enjoy having their territory threatened.
I knew that thinking on a practical level, a kitten was the right option for our family at the stage we are in our lives right now. A kitten wouldn't threaten our current cats' territory as much as an adult cat would. And the kitten would also grow up around the boys and learn very quickly that whilst they can be loud and our house can be crazy and chaotic at times, that that is actually nothing to fear or be afraid of. I also liked the idea that the boys would have a kitten that would grow with them and that they would learn to care for from its young age.
And so, when I ran into my neighbour last week and she asked if I might be looking to re-home a kitten (her friends cat had accidentally got pregnant just before she was due to be spayed and she was trying to re-home the kittens for her), I guessed that maybe now was the right time to go back to having four cats again. When I went round to have a look, I knew I had to choose a confident kitten who would be brave enough to stand his ground with 3 grown cats and 2 young children and we knew that we wanted a male as we already have two females. And then I spotted (or rather he threw himself in front of me by repeatedly trying to make an escape from his crate) a little male silver tabby with a black nose and we knew he was the one.
We went out and bought all of his bits - a new bowl just for him with space for food and water, kitten food, new toys (the boys chose one each themselves), a new scratching post and litter (we already had a spare bed that our cats had rarely used). And then we bought him home (it was a long journey all the way from next door ;)..).
We named him Henry, or Henry Tudor, after my love for the Tudor era and my interest in the famous monarch and he took to his new home pretty much straight away. He met Charlie our male cat and Sooty one of our females that day and whilst we were nervous, they simply had a bit of a sniff and got on with their business. We've since seen the female cats hiss a bit at him, but we expected that from them as they aren't the most sociable pair. Charlie, however, is totally chilled about the arrival of Henry and doesn't really seem to care much. Henry keeps trying to sniff him and chases behind him as if to say 'Hey wait for me' when Charlie walks off. It's only been a few days and I wonder if in the future they might become really close. I hope so.
The boys absolutely adore him and I think Henry adores them back already. They love that he loves to play and Henry loves that there's always someone who will play with him. When they're noisy he isn't bothered and he's quite happy for them to pick him up or stroke him. The boys have been so sweet since Henry arrived, they're constantly building him 'dens' and little activity centres out of the sofa cushions and they're so excited to see him in the morning as soon as they wake up. It makes me so happy that they're getting to experience having a kitten.
It's funny because on the first day, being that getting Henry was all so unexpected and it was the same day that Adam was going away for 3 days to sell at one of his shows in London, I was really nervous about whether or not we were ready and if we were doing the right thing. But literally a day later and I simply couldn't imagine life without him being here. He's settled in so well and it's exactly like he was always meant to be a part of our family. <3
Thank you for reading.
Alex xo
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